(Updated) Sudip Gurung, Discipline Incharge of Malpi International College situated at Baluwatar has been arrested on accusation of ill-treating the students. Sudip has been accused of beating the students. Parents complained about it after their children stopped going to school in fear of being beaten.

 (Updated)... College teacher’s unscrupulous act: Last week’s arrest spurs broader investigation the arrest of a discipline in-charge (DI) of a college in the Capital last week on the charges of harassing and blackmailing students has prompted the law enforcement agency to broaden the investigation to find out how colleges are hiring DIs and whether they are running background checks before hiring. The Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD) on Thursday arrested Sudip Gurung who was working as a DI at Malpi International Institute/College, Baluwatar. He was arrested after complaints from parents that he had been forcefully asking money from students “to bet during various sporting activities”. A Post inquiry and police statements show that many private colleges have been hiring “former bouncers” and “goons” as DIs “to maintain discipline”. Such unscrupulous DIs’ ways of “disciplining” students have become a major cause for concern, according to police. Some even go as far as blackmailing and extorting money from students in some private colleges where a majority of students come from well-to-do homes, say police.

According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sarbendra Khanal, chief of MPCD, around 15 parents have complained against the arrested DI. SSP Khanal said one of the parents in their statement said that their child had taken more than Rs 700,000 on various occasions and that they later found out Gurung had taken all the money for betting. The MPCD has filed a public offense case against Gurung. A police investigation has found that a majority of DIs in private colleges have criminal backgrounds. “They instill fear among students,” said SSP Khanal. “We will soon book these people and warn the concerned colleges.” In the case of Gurung, according to the MPCD, he would either thrash or threaten students if they did not give him money for betting. He would, at times, even lend money to students at an exorbitant interest rate.

Purna Adhikari, the administrator of Malpi International Institute/College, said Gurung was hired two years ago without any background check. “We came to know about his activities only after he was arrested,” said Adhikari. Gurung’s arrest has also brought to the fore the fact that colleges tend to hire such people as DIs to “scare students”. They also come in handy as they can help sort out problems with local goons. About a month ago, a DI of Caspian Valley College in Lalitpur was arrested for thrashing a student, who had sustained an injury on his ears. “Colleges do not do background checks, especially to confirm whether the persons they are hiring were/ are involved in criminal activities,” said SSP Pitamber Adhikari, chief of Metropolitan Police Range, Lalitpur. “Many a time, cases are filed against the DIs only when incidents are of severe nature.

Generally, colleges, parents, or students keep the matter to themselves.” Yubraj Sharma, general secretary of the Higher Secondary School Association, Nepal (HISSAN), said that they have been advising colleges to hire sports teacher instead of “bouncers”. “Why to run a college when you want to hire bouncers?” Sharma wondered. Many private colleges have been hiring former bouncers and goons as discipline in-charge.